The August 2020 EFO Flying Meeting Notes and information from the August flying meeting.	The 36th Annual Mid-America Electric Flies The report on this 36th Annual event!
A Very, Very Special Event! The upcoming Richard Utkan Memorial Fly and corn roast.	Upcoming E-vents
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The August 2020 EFO Flying Meeting      The meeting was held on Saturday, August 1. The weather really cooperated. The morning started off quite sunny, with clouds building during the day.      We had recently suffered through a heat wave for a week, but the temperature moderated to a high in the mid-80s on Saturday.      The winds were almost calm and the day proved to be one of those elusive "perfect" summer flying days.      The "meeting" was scheduled for 10 a.m., but Ken arrived with Mike Russell at 9 a.m. to meet with his four student pilots.      Ken used his RUA 2-4-10 trainer and modified Flite Test version 5 3-channel planes as the trainers for his students and to get Mike back in the air for a flight after a couple of years layoff for him.      Ken is having great success using both those planes as trainers as both of them just sip electrons while flying at trainer speed. The RUA 2-4-10 uses a 3S 2200mAh LiPo and can do two 8 minute training flights on one pack. The version 5 Simple Cub uses a 3S 1300mAh pack and can get two 7 minute training flights on one pack. Mike Russell (rear) and one of Ken's student pilots (foreground)      With two charged packs at the beginning of the day, the flying is continuous, while rotating through the four student pilots twice, with no time necessary to recharge.      Others started arriving between 9:30 and 10 and enjoying the beautiful weather while putting up many flights.      "While the overall turnout was light, everyone there had a good time chatting and flying on this beautiful day. Return to "What's In This Issue" The 36th Annual Mid-America Electric Flies Flight Line from East End on Saturday Ken Myers photo Flight Line from West End on Saturday Ken Myers photo Keith and Ken give pilot briefing Rick Sawicki photo Saturday, July 11, 2020 Pilots' Briefing Rick Sawicki photo      The 36th Annual Mid-America Electric Flies, AKA the Mid-Am were held on July 11 and 12, 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic continued in the USA.      While the turn out, as expected, was light, it was a wonderful time for all the participants, who practiced social distancing and mask wearing, to get together to enjoy our great hobby!      We were so very happy that our LONG time flying buddy, Don Belfort, still made the trip up from West Chester, OH! Don Belfort flying his PT-19 early Saturday morning C.J. Wysocki photo Don's PT-19 lifts off on Saturday morning C.J. Wysocki photo Dave Grife readies for takeoff and takes off Ken Myers photos      Dave Grife also made it up and over from Coldwater, MI. It is always great when he can make it so that we can enjoy his company and excellent flying. The Weather      The week before the Mid-Am, Southeastern Michigan had suffered through a week plus of mid-90 degree F temperatures, while the heat indices were over 100 degrees F for most of those days.      Fortunately, a cool front passed through on the Friday before the Mid-Am and brought some much needed rain and relatively cooler temperatures. Even with the sun shining brightly all day, the midday high on Saturday was "only" about 85 degrees F with low humidity. It was actually quite pleasant, temperature-wise, to be outside.      Why was it so comfortable to be outside on Saturday? As noted, the humidity was low, but the winds were high, very, very high.      The winds started the day at at least 15 mph and then went up with gusts well into the mid-20 mph range or possibly higher. At times is was necessary to grab the EZ Up poles to keep them from taking off, even though they were staked into the ground.      Keith called this Mid-Am, "Windfest 2020!"      How windy was it? Czechmate in the air CJ Wysocki Photo      After Keith flew his fast, wind penetrating, Czechmate, he noted that is was extremely difficult to do precisely placed maneuvers and that wind gusts made some of the maneuvers a bit "unpredictable".      Even though the winds were high, there was still quite a bit of flying both before and after the pilots' meeting. Ken readies his modified FT Simple Cub for Takeoff CJ Wysocki photo Ken's Cub flying CJ Wysocki photo      Ken probably flew more flights at this years' Mid-Am than any previous year. He flew his modified, version 5, Simple Cub 4-channel with ailerons and if flew amazingly well in the wind. The Awards      After 35 years, the format of the event was changed this year. Saturday was the "main" flying day and Sunday was a day for open flying of electrics. Awards were only presented on Saturday. Best Scale Award      Don Belfort of West Chester, OH was awarded the Best Scale Award for his beautiful looking, beautiful flying scratch-built PT-19. Don retrieving his PT-19 after a great landing - Ken Myers photo Denny Sumner's Kwik Fli 180 CJ Wysocki photo Best Sport Plane      Denny Sumner, of Canton, MI, was presented the Best Sport Plane Award for his Manzano Laser Works Kwik-FLI 180. Best Mini Electric      Joe Hass, of Rochester Hills, MI, was awarded the Best Mini Electric award. The award was not for one mini electric but 4 boxes full of mini electrics with almost all being flown at this "WindFest" meet! Joe's Box 1 Joe's Box 2 Joe's Box 3      Unfortunately, the photo of the fourth box did not turn out well enough to publish. Best Multi-Motor Award Joe Hass' OV-10 Bronco Ken Myers photo      Joe Hass was also was presented with the Best Multi-Motor Award for his OV-10 Bronco. Most Beautiful Denny with his Robin Hood      Denny Sumner of Canton, MI was awarded the Most Beautiful Award for his Old School Model Works Robinhood 25. CD's Choice Bill Brown, Sr. with his Slow Stick Bob Blau photo      Bill Brown, Sr. of Northville, MI was presented the CD's Choice for boldly flying an aileron version of the Slow Stick in a truly excellent manner. It was just awesome and amazing in those high winds! Foam Flurry for NCM Aircraft      After polling the possible entrants for this event, it was decided to pass on it for this year because of the high winds.      After the presentation of the awards, the Pilots' Raffle was held.      We thank Mark Freeland, of Retro RC, and Joe Hass for donations for this raffle.      Unfortunately, the Saturday evening annual steak potluck could not be held this year. Sunday July 12, the Open Flying Day Folks started arriving at about 8:30ish of so.      It was a beautiful morning with a light breeze and a welcomed cloud cover.      Eight fliers returned on Sunday for the open electric flying.      One more person signed up for the event. That brought the total to 20 participants for this year.      Everyone took turns flying at their leisure. It was a very, very relaxed flying day! Steve Labuta with his own designed sport plane Ken Myers photo      Steve Labuta flew his new simple sport plane, and it flew wonderfully. Steve had shared his CAD design for this scratch built and how he'd cut it on his CNC machine at EFO meetings this past year. June 2020 Ampeer August 2020 Ampeer      About 11 o'clock, a father and two sons came to the flying field. They were looking for flight instruction.      Thanks to Robyn Rissell of Lake Orion, MI, Ken was able to borrow his Tactic TTX650 for a buddy box with his Tactic TTX660.      Ken had his 3-channel, modified FT Simple Cub in the car, so he was able to give all three their first introductions to RC flying using his modified, 3-channel, version 5 Simple Cub.      They noted that learning to fly RC is definitely not easy.      This was the first time that Ken had used his modified, 3-channel Cub as a trainer, and it worked out extremely well, even though the wind had picked up some and was at about 10 mph by the time the last training flight was taken.      By about 1:30, while the sunshades were being taken down and packed, the winds had increased to at least 15 mph with several gusts much above that.      By the time that everything was packed away, the temperature had reached 81 degrees F, which was still very pleasant. Some of the Interesting Planes and People Robert flying his RUA 2-4-10 CJ Wysocki photo      Robert Throne chose to fly his RUA 2-4-10 in the windy conditions rather than his beautiful scale models. The RUA did very well flying I the wind! Robert's RUA 2-4-10 in the air CJ Wysocki photo Some of Mark's planes Rick Sawicki photo      Mark Freeland brought some of his Retro RC planes to fly. They are built from Retro RC kits.      Joe Hass, of Rochester Hills, MI was really, really ready for this years Mid-Am.      Besides his boxes and boxes of mini-electrics, for which he won his a Best Mini Electric Award, he also brought along quite a fleet of other planes.      One of them was the fantastic looking and flying Antic. He did a write-up for the August 2020 Ampeer. Besides flying very well, hearing that "old" Astro Flight gearbox was a great trip down memory lane. Summary      With the pandemic and high winds taken into consideration, it was still a very enjoyable Mid-Am.      Everyone seemed to still have a good time, and that was Keith's and Ken's intent.      Both Ken and Keith noted that they enjoyed this WindFest/pandemic Mid-Am very much and felt that there was a lot less pressure on them. They both noted that they are now looking forward to the 37th annual Mid-America Electric Flies in 2021. Even More Info from the Mid-Am The Cat with 9 Lives      Robyn Rissell brought a recently purchased, used, F9F Panther EDF. It was not really the day to try and fly an unfamiliar plane, but Robyn persevered on both Saturday and, again, on Sunday. Despite several disappearances into the weeds and off field, that cat kept coming back for another flight. Way to go Robyn and that is one tough cat! Don Belfort's Beautiful PT-19 Don Belfort's PT-19      The following information on Don's plane comes from his column in the Summer 2020 issue of Park Pilot magazine, p. 28 and p. 29. Motor: E-flite Power 90 ESC: Castle Creations Phoenix Edge 100 Battery: Thunder Power RC 8S 5000mAh Prop: APC 17x8 Full power amp draw: 55 amps RTF weight: 11 lb. (176 oz. KM) Wing Area: ~1200 sq.in. Wing loading: ~21 oz./sq.ft. (Wing Cube Loading: 7.3 KM)      The WCL indicates why this plane flies so well at about 21 oz./sq.ft. The Joe Hass Air Force at the Mid-Am      Joe DEFINITELY had the most planes at the meet and flew almost all of them!!! Great show Joe!      Here is a list of the planes that he had available to fly. "Smalls" (under 3 ounces) Not Flown Right Flyer (wing broke from the wind carrying it to the flightline) Teerific F 22 (just too small) Teerific MIG 25 (just too small) Gnat (had 2 there - flew the more powerful one) Retro RC Baby Bi Winger (had 2 there-flew the heavier one) "Smalls" (under 3 ounces) Flown Retro RC Camp E' Racer Retro RC Baby Bi Winger Retro RC Ebenezer Radical RC Mini Stick Goldberg Shoestring Goldberg Ranger 21 Gnat Hot Wing Stringless Wonder Stringless Wonder 150% "Mid Size" (over 6 ounces) Flown Aspect Aviation F-106 Delta Dart West Michigan Park Flyers OV-10 Bronco West Michigan Park Flyers F-22 West Michigan Park Flyers Mini F-22 Model Aero Cessna 310 Flyzone L-39 Weekend Wonder GWS C-130 Cargo Master (4 motors) Tower Ryan STA "Giant" (over 80" wingspan) Flown Proctor ANTIC      Another great time. Joe with his Gnat      From Joe Hass Photos and More Photos      Our thanks go to CJ Wysocki, Rick Sawicki, Ken Myers and Bob Blau for the photos of this years' Mid-Am.      The following are links to even more photos taken at the 36th Annual Mid-America Electric Flies. Rick Sawicki's photo link CJ Wysocki photo link Ken Myers' photo link Large Multi-Rotar C.J. Wysocki photo      A large, photographic, first person video, multi-rotor flew during the Mid-Am. Keith Shaw's Bear Kitty C.J. Wysocki photo      Keith Shaw's venerable Bear Kitty flew again this year at the Mid-Am. Watching this "antique" airframe in the air is always a pleasure. Return to What's In This Issue A Very, Very Special Event! Saturday, September 19, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., *Richard Utkan Memorial Fly and corn roast. *RICHARD UTKAN was an active member of the original Union Lake Flying Organization (UFO) when it was on Wise Rd. near Union Lake, MI. He was the vice-president of the Electric Flyers Only (EFO) from its inception, in February 1988, to his untimely death in September of 2019. The event is hosted by the United Flying Organization (UFO) at their flying site in the Highland Recreation Area. The flying site is 1.8 miles south of M-59 on the south side of Teeple Lake Rd. The driveway is on the right about 1/4 mile on Teeple Lake Road from Duck Lake Rd. A Michigan State Park Recreation Passport is Required. There will be open flying from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Proof of AMA membership is required to fly. You are invited to share your memories of Richard and to bring your "FRANKEN-PLANES" and "Huhh, does that really fly?" planes in honor of Rich. Please bring something to share. (A favorite memory, food...) Fresh Grilled Corn is Provided. Donations accepted. More Information is available from Steve Labuta Phone: 248-360-1766 Email: slabuta@yahoo.com Return to "What's In This Issue" To Reach Ken Myers, you can land mail to the address at the top of the page. My E-mail address is: KMyersEFO@theampeer.org EFO WEB Site